12 Things You Didn't Know Your DSLR Could Do

5. Get steadier long exposures with combined mirror lockup and self-timer.

The Mirror Up mode, shown here on the Nikon D4, is perfect for cutting down on camera shake when shooting a long exposure on a tripod.

Even on a tripod, your DSLR can shake due to mirror slap—the vibration caused when the mirror flips up and down—so you should lock the mirror up for long exposures. It can also shake if you trip the shutter with your hand on the camera, so you should fire with a remote or the self-timer. But did you know you could stop both shakes with one control? Mirror lockup with a 2-second delayed release is found on most DSLRs in a self-timer menu or drive-mode selection.

Tip: You can use the lockup/delayed release without a tripod. Rest the camera on a steady surface, or prop your elbows on a steady surface with the camera held firmly against your face. Take a breath, trip the shutter, and hold still until the mirror drops back down.

6. Perfect your optics with lens correction.
Readers of our lens tests know that there is no such thing as a perfect lens. Even top-notch optics can produce distortion, light falloff, and soft images at some apertures. A growing number of DSLRs have built-in fixes to correct for distortion (barrel and pincushion) and corner vignetting. Some can even counteract chromatic aberration, which robs images of sharpness and causes color fringing; in some cameras, this function is part of the RAW conversion menu.

Watch out: In some cases, this function works only with the camera maker’s own lenses, not with independent optics. Tip: The lens correction option may be the default setting in some cameras. If so, you can turn it off in a setup menu. Why would you? The distortion correction can cut off some of the frame edge—or you may just want the distortion.{C}{C}{C}{C}